Foreign trips to cost a whooping N48. 899 billion in 2017 according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs budgeted over N48. 899 billion on 115 foreign missions abroad in the 2017 budget.

Foreign Missions have suffered a huge set back in the past one year due to lack of financial support from the ministry. Vanguard analysis of the 2017 budget proposal showed that Nigeria’s Foreign Mission in New York led the list with the highest allocation of N1.877 billion. What exactly do they spend all these billions on for just a few days trip?

Washington followed with an allocation of N1.05 billion; London received an allocation of N1.433 billion; Berlin, N743.880 million; and Madrid, N682. 286 million. On the flip side, Nigeria Foreign Mission in Columbo, Sri Lanka, received the least allocation of N259.16 million, followed by the Mission in Lome, with N252.6 million.

Others in this category are Freetown N260.61 million and Spain, with a total allocation of N267. 84 million. The total allocation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its agencies is N66.664 billion, comprising recurrent expenditure of N56.869 billion and capital expenditure of N9.795 billion.